FRISCO — Humpback whales in the North Pacific, the North Atlantic and the Southern Ocean are much more genetically distinct than previously thought, and should be recognized as separate subspecies, according to biologists who carefully analyzed DNA from hundreds of whales around the world.

The findings could bolster conservation strategies for the whales, which were nearly hunted to extinction during the 20th century. While some humpback whale populations have made a strong recovery since the end of the whaling era, other isolated populations may need additional help to recover.

The findings could help federal biologists in the U.S. as they consider a proposal to designate North Pacific humpbacks as a single “distinct population segment” under the Endangered Species Act and illustrate the complexity studying and managing marine mammals on a global scale.

The bottom line, according to the paper published last week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B last week, is that humpback whales of the North Pacific, North Atlantic and Southern Hemisphere are on independent evolutionary trajectories. Continue reading →

A female loggerhead sea turtle equipped with two tags heads for the Gulf of Mexico from a beach in Dry Tortugas National Park. Photo courtesy Kristen Hart/USGS.

New study could help scientists come up with better tagging techniques

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Well-meaning scientists have long been tagging all sorts of critters to try and get a better idea of where they go to feed, breed or just hang out. The data from such studies helps inform conservation planning, but it turns out the tags may have a negative impact on at least some aquatic animals.

In a new study, American and Canadian researchers quantified the energy cost to aquatic animals when they carry satellite tags, video cameras and other research instruments.

Studying fiberglass casts of sea turtles in a wind tunnel, the team found that, while most commercially available tags increased drag by less than five percent for large adult animals in the wild, these same devices increased drag by more than 100 percent on smaller or juvenile animals. Continue reading →

FRISCO — Some key ocean indicator species, including phytoplankton, zooplankton and bony fish, are moving towards the poles at the average rate of about 45 miles per decade in response to warming oceans — 10 times faster than the average movement of land species.

SUMMIT COUNTY — If you’re planning any ocean boating this year, you could help scientists track how global warming is affecting phytoplankton with new smartphone app. Some scientists fear that the minute organisms at the base of the marine food chain are dwindling, which would have significant consequences for all other marine organisms.

Some studies suggest that phytoplankton populations have already declined by 40 percent in some areas, but there haven’t been enough measurements to get a true global picture. That’s where the new Secchi app may help, according to Dr, Richard Kirby, a researcher at Plymouth University’s Marine Institute.

Secchi disks have long been used to measure phytoplankton density, simply by measuring the depth at which the disk disappears from view. The app enables mariners to report that measurement from wherever they are, and there’s even a Facebook page for seafarers who are participating in the project. Continue reading →

SUMMIT COUNTY — A still-popular first-grade book described the heroic efforts of a small fish to make a big splash. Now, it turns out that Arty’s dream wasn’t all that farfetched.

According to a new study by scientists with Rutgers University and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, forage fish like anchovies can play an important role as a biological pump in the cycle that moves carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the depths of the ocean, where its sequestered without adding to heat-trapping woes of atmospheric greenhouse gases.

Dr. Grace Saba, of Rutgers University, and professor Deborah Steinberg, of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, shifted their focus away from their long-term studies of copepods to looking at anchovies in the Santa Barbara Channel, off the California coast. Continue reading →

NOAA is reporting a resurgence of marine life in a protected around the Dry Tortugas, off Florida, including this area around Permit Reef. PHOTO COURTESY NOAA..

Marine resources still being degraded and exploited at an unsustainable rate

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Listening to official government sources about the state of the world’s oceans is one thing, with a steady stream of “good” news often highlighting new marine reserves and the recovery of fisheries.

But on the whole, world leaders have made only “pitiful” progress in their promises to protect global oceans from overfishing and other threats, according to the Zoological Society of London, which is hardly a hotbed of radical environmentalism. In fact, there has been little progress in meeting critical conservation goals in the past 20 years, the scientists wrote in a study published June 15 in Science.

The researchers compared goals established at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. At the meeting, 192 countries agreed on targets for protecting vulnerable species and marine habitats and managing fishing sustainably in national waters.

Ten years on, none of these targets have been met, and in some cases the situation is worse than before, said the researchers with the zoological society, hardly known as a hotbed of radical environmentalism. Continue reading →

Demand for forage fish in recent decades has greatly increased for use as fish meal and fish oil to feed farmed fish, pigs, and chickens that people consume on a regular basis. Fish oil is also used in nutritional supplements for humans. PHOTO COURTESY LENFEST FORAGE FISH TASK FORCE.

Better management needed for ‘small but significant species’

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Preserving healthy ocean ecosystems requires cutting back on harvests of herring, anchovy and other small schooling fish that are a vital link in ocean food webs, according to a new report from an international task force.

The so-called forage fish eat plankton and are, in turn, food for bigger fish, as well as penguins, whales, seals, puffins, and dolphins. They are primary food sources for many commercially and recreationally valuable fish found around North America, such as salmon, tuna, striped bass, and cod.